CVE-2025-37781 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: i2c: cros-ec-tunnel: defer probe if parent EC is not present When i2c-cros-ec-tunnel and the EC driver are built-in, the EC parent device will not be found, leading to NULL pointer dereference. That can also be reproduced by unbinding the controller driver and then loading i2c-cros-ec-tunnel module (or binding the device). [ 271.991245] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000058 [ 271.998215] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 272.003351] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 272.008485] PGD 0 P4D 0 [ 272.011022] Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI [ 272.015207] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 3859 Comm: insmod Tainted: G S 6.15.0-rc1-00004-g44722359ed83 #30 PREEMPT(full) 3c7fb39a552e7d949de2ad921a7d6588d3a4fdc5 [ 272.030312] Tainted: [S]=CPU_OUT_OF_SPEC [ 272.034233] Hardware name: HP Berknip/Berknip, BIOS Google_Berknip.13434.356.0 05/17/2021 [ 272.042400] RIP: 0010:ec_i2c_probe+0x2b/0x1c0 [i2c_cros_ec_tunnel] [ 272.048577] Code: 1f 44 00 00 41 57 41 56 41 55 41 54 53 48 83 ec 10 65 48 8b 05 06 a0 6c e7 48 89 44 24 08 4c 8d 7f 10 48 8b 47 50 4c 8b 60 78 <49> 83 7c 24 58 00 0f 84 2f 01 00 00 48 89 fb be 30 06 00 00 4c 9 [ 272.067317] RSP: 0018:ffffa32082a03940 EFLAGS: 00010282 [ 272.072541] RAX: ffff969580b6a810 RBX: ffff969580b68c10 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 272.079672] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000282 RDI: ffff969580b68c00 [ 272.086804] RBP: 00000000fffffdfb R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 [ 272.093936] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: ffffffffc0600000 R12: 0000000000000000 [ 272.101067] R13: ffffffffa666fbb8 R14: ffffffffc05b5528 R15: ffff969580b68c10 [ 272.108198] FS: 00007b930906fc40(0000) GS:ffff969603149000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 272.116282] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 272.122024] CR2: 0000000000000058 CR3: 000000012631c000 CR4: 00000000003506f0 [ 272.129155] Call Trace: [ 272.131606] <TASK> [ 272.133709] ? acpi_dev_pm_attach+0xdd/0x110 [ 272.137985] platform_probe+0x69/0xa0 [ 272.141652] really_probe+0x152/0x310 [ 272.145318] __driver_probe_device+0x77/0x110 [ 272.149678] driver_probe_device+0x1e/0x190 [ 272.153864] __driver_attach+0x10b/0x1e0 [ 272.157790] ? driver_attach+0x20/0x20 [ 272.161542] bus_for_each_dev+0x107/0x150 [ 272.165553] bus_add_driver+0x15d/0x270 [ 272.169392] driver_register+0x65/0x110 [ 272.173232] ? cleanup_module+0xa80/0xa80 [i2c_cros_ec_tunnel 3a00532f3f4af4a9eade753f86b0f8dd4e4e5698] [ 272.182617] do_one_initcall+0x110/0x350 [ 272.186543] ? security_kernfs_init_security+0x49/0xd0 [ 272.191682] ? __kernfs_new_node+0x1b9/0x240 [ 272.195954] ? security_kernfs_init_security+0x49/0xd0 [ 272.201093] ? __kernfs_new_node+0x1b9/0x240 [ 272.205365] ? kernfs_link_sibling+0x105/0x130 [ 272.209810] ? kernfs_next_descendant_post+0x1c/0xa0 [ 272.214773] ? kernfs_activate+0x57/0x70 [ 272.218699] ? kernfs_add_one+0x118/0x160 [ 272.222710] ? __kernfs_create_file+0x71/0xa0 [ 272.227069] ? sysfs_add_bin_file_mode_ns+0xd6/0x110 [ 272.232033] ? internal_create_group+0x453/0x4a0 [ 272.236651] ? __vunmap_range_noflush+0x214/0x2d0 [ 272.241355] ? __free_frozen_pages+0x1dc/0x420 [ 272.245799] ? free_vmap_area_noflush+0x10a/0x1c0 [ 272.250505] ? load_module+0x1509/0x16f0 [ 272.254431] do_init_module+0x60/0x230 [ 272.258181] __se_sys_finit_module+0x27a/0x370 [ 272.262627] do_syscall_64+0x6a/0xf0 [ 272.266206] ? do_syscall_64+0x76/0xf0 [ 272.269956] ? irqentry_exit_to_user_mode+0x79/0x90 [ 272.274836] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x55/0x5d [ 272.279887] RIP: 0033:0x7b9309168d39 [ 272.283466] Code: 5b 41 5c 5d c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 66 90 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d af 40 0c 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 8 [ 272.302210] RSP: 002b:00007fff50f1a288 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 000 ---truncated---

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-02-25	0.01%	0.07%	+0.05%
2	2025-11-07	0.06%	0.01%	-0.05%
3	2025-11-04	—	0.06%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-02-25

0.01%

0.07%

+0.05%

2025-11-07

0.06%

0.01%

-0.05%

2025-11-04

—

0.06%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	3.6	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

3.6

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-37781

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2025-37781 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-37781
`redhat`	—	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-37781
`suse`	medium	—	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-37781/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2025-37781 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, ignored 167, released 162, needed 44, not-affected 30, needs-triage 2, pending 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-37781

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-37781

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 3.16, < 5.4.293	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.5, < 5.10.237	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.11, < 5.15.181	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.16, < 6.1.135	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.2, < 6.6.88	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.7, < 6.12.25	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.13, < 6.14.4	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.15	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc1::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.15	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc2::::::
debian	debian_linux	11.0	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:::::::*

References for CVE-2025-37781

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/092de5ac8cb2eaa9593a765fa92ba39d8173f984	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1355b5ca4782be85a2ef7275e4c508f770d0fb27	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3090cad5ccff8963b95160f4060068048a1e4c4c	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/424eafe65647a8d6c690284536e711977153195a	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b66d4910a608427367c4e21499e149f085782df7	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cd83035b6f2a102c2d5acd3bfb2a11ff967aaba6	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/da8edc9eb2516aface7f86be5fa6d09c0d07b9f8	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e89bf1311d4497c6743f3021e9c481b16c3a41c9	Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00030.html	Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00045.html	Mailing List Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2025-37781 | i2c: cros-ec-tunnel: defer probe if parent EC is not present

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-37781

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-37781

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-37781

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-37781

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-37781

References for CVE-2025-37781